Frontier League

 

ThunderBolts lose pitchers’ duel in late innings

BOX SCORE

CRESTWOOD, IL – Kenny Mathews struck out ten batters over a strong eight-inning performance but it wasn’t enough for the ThunderBolts to extend their winning streak to three as the Gateway Grizzlies walked away with a 4-2 ten-inning victory at Ozinga Field Tuesday night.

Mathews and Gateway starter Carson LaRue locked horns in a great pitchers’ duel with the two sides combining for just one hit over the first three innings. The ThunderBolts (18-20) broke the stalemate in the bottom of the fourth. Dan Robinson doubled and Joshuan Sandoval singled him home to make it 1-0.

The Bolts went on to load the bases with one out in the inning but LaRue got the next two outs to escape trouble. Windy City had another good scoring chance in the seventh with two on and one out but couldn’t extend their lead.

Through seven innings, Mathews was nearly untouchable, allowing only two hits. With two outs in the eighth, though, Jackson Pritchard hit a solo home run to tie the score.

That sent the game to extra innings. In the top of the tenth, the Grizzlies (20-20) loaded the bases on back-to-back Jeff Heinrich errors. Cam Touchette was hit by a pitch to break the tie then they added two more runs on a Clint Freeman sacrifice fly and a Pritchard double.

The ThunderBolts got a run in the bottom of the inning thanks to a Dan Robinson RBI single but they left the tying run on base to end the game.

Sam Gardner (5-1) pitched 1.2 innings of relief for the win and Daniel Kight (2-1) allowed three unearned runs to take the loss.

The three-game series continues with game two on Wednesday. Sebastian Selway (1-1, 4.05) starts for Windy City against Gateway’s JP Williams (2-3, 5.45) on SecureOne Security Services Military and Senior Appreciation Wednesday at Ozinga Field. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 and the broadcast can be found through wcthunderbolts.com.



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